With no doctor around and a shortage of staff, Lynn Buchanan, a nurse decides to ease a patients pain by giving him medication. The patient dies and nurse Buchanan is suspended, even though the doctor's chart didn't say she shouldn't have done it. The rest of the nursing staff go on strike, her suspension being the last straw. Asten gets Quincy to look a bit closer than normal (Quincy look closer than normal!) when he does the autopsy because his wife is in the same hospital and was looked after by Lynn Buchanan.

An accident at a club leaves JJ Chandler, a top country singer, badly burned and in intensive care. Sgt, Wendell, a narcotics cop, believes Chandler freebasing cocaine caused the accident; the only problem is getting any proof, or a witness. While Wendell is trying to find someone who will testify Quincy begins to realize how many drug overdose victims he has dealt with during his time with the coroners office. He decides that there must be something he can do about it and means to do everything he can to stop the proliferation of drugs in Los Angeles.